Search

show me:

Tennis coaches a waste of money: Kyrgios

3 minute read

Mercurial tennis star Nick Kyrgios doubts he'll ever win a grand slam but insists he has no regrets as long as he does it his way.

NICK KYRGIOS.
NICK KYRGIOS. Picture: Bradley Kanaris/Getty Images

Nick Kyrgios believes tennis coaches are overpaid and that his career is "too far gone" for him to ever appoint another one anyway.

Kyrgios has spurned approaches from a raft of big names keen on helping the sport's most enigmatic talent fulfil his potential but says he's he too selfish and set in his ways to employ a fulltime mentor.

"Personally, I think (hiring a coach) is a little bit of a waste of money 'cause I think they get paid way too much," Kyrgios told his friend Elliot Loney during a candid 45-minute podcast.

"And, for me, I don't have a goal of winning grand slams. I just want to do it my way, have fun with it and just play.

"So to get a coach for me is pointless because I don't want to waste their time almost.

"I just don't think a coach is ready - and I'm not going to put them through it too 'cause it would just be a nightmare.

"Where I'm at my career now, it's just too far gone, I think for a coach, 'cause I'm too set in my ways and I just don't like to listen to advice, to be honest."

A notoriously poor trainer, Kyrgios has reached two grand slam quarter-finals, a career-high world No.13 and holds the rare distinction of having conquered each of Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic when they first met.

But he doubts he'll ever win a slam.

"I don't believe my body will hold up for seven matches at a grand slam, potentially playing three to four hours (each match)," he said.

Not that he harbours any regrets, the 25-year-old insisting wins and losses won't define his career.

"If I could, I'd just be on the beers every time I play - afterwards. I just want to chill out. I just think the sport's taken a bit too seriously," Kyrgios said.

The Canberran is content to have defied the doubters, having been told as a teenager that he was too fat to ever forge a successful pro career.

"There were a lot of people who had their two cents about what I had to do to make it, so to speak, and yeah those comments were hurtful at times," Kyrgios said.

"I was only a kid. I just wanted to play, go compete, and you've got coaches and teachers saying to a 14, 15-year-old kid 'you need to lose weight, otherwise you're not going to be good'.

"It was pretty tough to handle back then ... I just wanted to prove a lot of people wrong.

"I wanted to go out there, like a fat kid from Canberra who was decent at ball striking (to show I) could literally take it to some of the best in the world."

Think. Is this a bet you really want to place?

For free and confidential support call 1800 858 858 or visit www.gamblinghelponline.org.au